Chuck Taylor All-StarsThe Converse Rubber Company was founded in 1908 by Marquis M. Converse, in Massachusetts, United States. Initially, the company only made galoshes and seasonal shoes. Around 1915 the company decided to make athletic shoes so they could have continual production all year around. As basketball grew in its popularity, the company developed a shoe specific to the sport in 1917 which became popular in the late 1910s. By 1918, around 20,000 shoes were being manufactured by Converse per day.

That same year, 1918, a high school basketball star, Chuck Taylor, began wearing Converse's...